There's definitely lumps of something...
What Is This.....
- Thread starter sol7
- Start date
There's definitely lumps of something...
It's not too bad, judging from the pic. But still normal cleaning may not be enough. Magic Eraser only removes the easy stuff, and solvents/brushes don't affect baked-on crud. A stylus, hitting a scratch or grit, can generate a temperature of 400°C, so it can be really baked on. BTW, that's why cleaning a record immaculately can still have lots of noise — that 400° melted a crater in the vinyl.
I tried everything on my Stanton: nothing worked. Finally I used a scalpel — carved it off, true surgery.
But yours isn't NEARLY that bad.
I tried everything on my Stanton: nothing worked. Finally I used a scalpel — carved it off, true surgery.
But yours isn't NEARLY that bad.
boreas
"If it sounds good, it IS good." E.K.E.
From that angle it looks pretty good. Well done.
I had an Empire S906E that looked at least that bad. It took 4 or 5 trips through the US cleaner but it eventually cleaned up very well and revealed a nearly pristine diamond.
Interestingly, I later acquired another S906E, this one NOS and of a later type, and noticed that the boss to which the diamond was attached was either gold or gold plated. My thought is that Empire must have discovered that the material they were using for the boss was highly susceptible to corrosion that would eventually overgrow the stylus tip. Gold, being inert, doesn't corrode.
Balifly
Listening
I can, but is such a narrow depth of view.
What would it do to the suspension?
Does it look like a bonded tip ?
If a bonded tip is the diamond bonded to something and that something is attached to the cantilever, then I would say it's a bonded tip.
qdrone
Music is my mistress
Mount that sucker and drop it onto some Led Zeppelin baby!Well, I threw it in the USC for about 15min. What came out is, well.... I'll let you decide.
I'm completely surprised. I mean, it looked like a rock I picked out of the driveway. A diamond in the rough....
Not sure if it's actually tilted or just the angle of view.
Yes it does. They're not automatically bad, just frowned upon.Does it look like a bonded tip ?
Maybe nothing. Don't worry about it unless you play it and something's obviously amiss. 'We' worry about too much, it's part of the Audio-OCD.
bobins08
Celebrating Life
Mostly likely nothing. Worst case is that it dries out and it loses its springiness.
I don't know if that can happen or not, and its already happened so just play it and see.
Tiver
Enjoy the music
I found when using a microscope looking straight down, or better, looking at the stylus at the same angle it would hit the groove, the wear can be seen somewhat effectively using a strong flashlight from the side. And it absolutely is a very small depth.
Remember the image you are looking at will be mirrored, so light on the right side will reflect the facet on the left of the stylus looking into the scope. Get the flashlight as close as you can and move it slightly in a rotational direction to get some varied reflective input. I have looked at a lot of styli and it's pretty tricky to get the image and focus and lighting and position just so as to be confident you are seeing it right. Or maybe it's that I have a couple styli I REALLY want to be in better shape than they are and don't want to believe that big oval reflection is accurate!!
There is a sticky in the TT section on making a stylus inspecting microscope set up. It is designed around a stereo microscope, but a monocular scope should work
boreas
"If it sounds good, it IS good." E.K.E.
Does it look like a bonded tip ?
Yes, definitely.
I've always wondered... maybe you guys can clarify. As a stylus wears, it gets smooth. It will lose detail, resolution etc, but how does it damage the groove? A line-contact worn smooth may end up like a conical, friendly to records. And if they only lose sharpness, and retain the larger contact area, wouldn't they be very friendly?
